Developer proposes 22 units on Fairport Harbor river front

The housing developer involved in this year’s YMCA Dream House In Willoughby is proposing to build a new dream in the village of Fairport Harbor — 22 towering homes along the Grand River.
Knez Homes, based in Concord Township, presented its plans to Fairport Harbor Village Council this week to build homes with an expected value of more than $11 million south of the Fairport Harbor Senior Center along the High and East streets split.
“We feel that the riverfront is under-utilized and there is a population that wants to have access to the lake, the river and to docking at their front door,” Bo Knez, owner of the business, told the News-Herald after the Aug. 19 meeting. “There isn’t many communities that a development like this can be done. Fairport Harbor is one of a few.”
The three-story units feature a fourth-floor penthouse suite on top and an enclosed parking garage beneath for at least two cars.
Despite resembling the towering look of Willoughby Pointe, which includes the Dream House, all of the 22 units that make up South Pointe on the River will be purely residential, said Knez.
He said no completion date is set yet, but he expects construction to start as early as the beginning of 2015.
The project still needs to win a few approvals by council though. One is to rezone the property, currently owned by Fairport VFW Post 7754, from industrial to Marine Recreation. Another proposal needed is to add a section under the village’s marine recreation classification to allow cluster home planned unit developments as a conditional use.
A public hearing on both proposals is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Sept. 23. If both are approved, Knez will then need to apply for a conditional use permit, another matter that will require a public hearing.
Leaders of the VFW Post, who were at the council meeting, told the News-Herald that they’ve agreed to sell the 4 1/2-acre property to Knez Homes.
In addition, Knez Homes plans to build a memorial garden for war veterans near the northern end of the property along East Street. That garden is still going through a desgin phase.
After Aug. 19’s presentation by Knez and Arne Goldman, a principal at Focus Planning in Mentor, Fairport Harbor Mayor Tim Manross said the project Knez built in Willoughby is a “showcase” of what is being brought to the village.
“It really is a good use for this property,” Manross said at the meeting. “It puts it into a tax-paying mode for us in some point. We don’t generate a ton of taxes on that property as we speak. These are ways we can start to fill some of the budget holes we have in the village as well.”
The last time the village had a housing development was in 2005 when home builders built the 45 units at Nautical Ridge, said Fairport Harbor Village Administrator Dave McGuirk.

About the Author

Simon Husted joined the News-Herald in February 2013. The Buffalo native and Kent State graduate covers schools and community issues in Fairport Harbor, Perry Township, Perry Village, North Perry, Madison Township and Madison Village. Reach the author at shusted@news-herald.com
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